The present invention relates to the protection of loads towed by an automotive vehicle and more particularly concerns a bumper mounted stone shield of effective configuration and installation.
House trailers and trailer-mounted loads such as boats are often towed long distances over roads of varying condition. During such towing, the towed loads are subjected to stones and other road debris forcefully hurled rearwardly at high velocity from beneath the towing vehicle. Continuation of the impact of such debris over long periods of time causes not only a significant degradation of appearance of the front portion of the towed load, but may also result in severe physical damage to the load.
Stone shields in the past have been mounted immediately behind the rear wheels, extending transversely only for the width of the wheel. Such shields are effective against stones and debris thrown back only in a straight line. Much debris is thrown off at an angle from the wheels and often from beneath a more central portion of the towing vehicle so that the prior devices are of little or no effect against such debris. For example, the flaps or splash guards shown in the U.S. Pat. Nos. to D. S. Long, 2,782,053, C. D. Carswell, 2,809,848, H. A. Lincoln, 2,826,428, and V. D. Knisely et al, 3,195,920 are bolted to fixed parts of a truck for permanent installation, and hang down solely behind the rear wheels, leaving the space between the wheels free and open to the passage of high speed stones and other debris from beneath the towing vehicle. The devices of the prior art are not readily mountable, and, moreover, are not adjustable. Most are not useful with a common vehicle, such as a pick-up truck having one of several common types of rear bumper.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide efficient and effective protection for a towed load.